Cambridge United’s head of football Graham Daniels has revealed the targets he has set Shaun Derry for the next few games.

After a busy week off the pitch, the U’s return to action against high-flying Notts County this weekend – the first of four games over nine days.

And while Daniels confirmed yesterday that Derry’s contract, which runs out in the summer, would be reviewed after that, he said the head coach is fully focused on winning games and playing as “attractive a level of football as is possible.”

“Shaun’s responsibility is to make sure that, over Christmas, our football team wins matches,” he said.

“He feels that, he thinks that, that’s his job. With [assistant head coach] Joe Dunne, with [goalkeeping coach] Kevin Pilkington, with the staff, that’s his job.

“And his job is to get us playing as attractive a level of football as is possible on a League Two Budget. That’s Shaun Derry’s job as head coach.

“And that’s all I’m asking of him, do that that job with 10% of our games coming up in a week.”

And while Daniels understood that his statement may cause a period of uncertainty, he reassured fans that long-term matters regarding the coaching staff would be addressed after the busy festive period.

“People saying what’s going to happen, listen,” he said.

“We will address the long-term things. What matters here is that he is our head coach and he has a very, very big week for the whole club in front of him.

“We’ve got to keep getting results, and I’m fully behind him to pull it off.”